It's a matter of need vs the cost of stocking specific parts. There is not enough need to set up replacement sails for kayaks ... yet. We get VERY few requests (1), so making specific sku's, placing production orders and holding them for this purpose is not cost effective for me.

The Island Main is a bit different. There is a replacement sail already in the system because of the way that boat is produced and packaged.

We do have concerns about using a jib in this way on the Island. Some feel the loads on the bow handle eye are possibly a problem. When you sheet the main tight... if the jib luff is tight, you may lever a lot of load on the bow eye.

I plan to try mine only in light winds. The old junky sail I have is quite a bit bigger than the little Hobie kayak sail. I have found that the AI has plenty of power in winds above 12 knots, but I find myself trying to sail it in 6 to 10 knots of wind. It works OK across the wind, but pointing and running angles are slow. More sail area is needed at those angles on those days.

My uphaul line tension is easily adjusted to compensate for when the main sheet line is made taught for upwind sailing. Tensioning the main sheet, of course bends the mast back some which would tension the jib line and the bow eye.

Still, the bow eye is reasonably strong, as you pick up the boat using it. I think if the jib were used in high wind you would have a better chance of breaking the mast top over pulling the bow eye out. I don't want to find out

There are instructons on forum to adapt an Island mast cup to use the small kayak mast & sail. So if you got the full kayak sail kit you could use it for the jib sail and also to sail in "Adventure kayak" mode.

Ya, my current yellow jib was originally used to sail the Hobie Sport.

Good point on the bow eye, Yakaholic. As long as you don't pull on your jib halyard with any more force than it takes to lift the boat, and you ease it when bending the mast back, it should be able to handle the jib without popping out.

I'm also more concerned about the top of my mast. Carbon fiber is amazingly strong, but it also has the unfortunate characteristic of sudden catastrophic failure. It won't crack just a little bit. It will fail completely, or not at all.

But there's no reason to mess with a jib in over ten knots of wind. The AI sails great with that much wind. I'm just going to try to keep all jib loads on the mast below the loads experienced when tropical storm sailing earlier this year.

I received an email from Hobie about buying a 20.25 replacement sail...

They stated that they would probably have a new design/color model 20.25 sail available sometime later this fall/winter.

I was confused why Hobie wouldn't stock a replacement 20.25 sail for
the Hobie kayaks, which can be purchased with the 20.25 sail/mast kit.

I know that the AI was not designed for a jib...but like quite a few other
AI owners...I like 'putzing around' with my boats...redesigning features...

I also realize that putting a jib on the AI could overstress the boat in high winds...if I break the mast...it, of course, will be my fault.

I have installed a sail kit on my Grumman 17' sport canoe with jib.
I did some adapting on my Nacra 18' racing cat
I have a large 'parafoil' chute I got from my brother-inlaw who used it
in skydiving...I rigged it up on the bow of my 27' sailboat...boy, did it
pull going on a downwind run!...but was a devil to bring down.
I also have a medium sized parafoil kite...I am going to see if I can rig it to the AI (with the mast removed) along with a sea anchor for setting and dosing the parafoil.

I experimented with sails too, I have a HyFly Windsurfer sail (unaltered) that I need to unload on some sucker , er lucky person. It is just taking up space in my increasingly clutter garage. billocala at gmail dot com or here ill find it eventually.

I just got an email from Hobie stating that because the sail without the rest of the kit (mast and fittings) would only be $60 less than the full kit...
Hobie will ONLY sell the 20.25 sq ft sail as part of the kit.

Saves Hobie the trouble of separating the sail from the package and
book-keeping...I guess.